008 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth. ans. 31 



A man makes a seal of cedar wood. His brothers try to kill it and are towed across 

 the ocean. After several adventures, they reach a village, where they go sealing. 

 Near an island they see a canoe adrift. There is nobody in it. After a while a dwarf 

 named Tceteiudjai'mix comes up, who puts two halibut into the canoe. The brothers 

 steal one of the fish. When the dwarf comes up again and notices the theft, he stretches 

 his hand out, moves it around the horizon, and in this way gets the scent of the brothers, 

 The Birds try to attack him; but he overcomes them, puts them into his canoe, and 

 enslaves them. He takes them to the village of the dwarfs; and the chief tells them 

 to assist them in the war against the Birds, who shoot the dwarf? with their feathers. 

 The brothers club the Birds. The youngest brother pulls the feathers out of the 

 bodies of the killed dwarfs, and they come to life again. Out of gratitude the chief 

 sends the men back home. He puts them into a whale, which serves as their canoe 

 Co 5.88. 



Paul Kane l tells another version of this story, apparently collected 

 among the Nisqually of Puget Sound. 



In a family of four brothers the three younger ones quarrel with the eldest one, who 

 causes a Seal to take them across the ocean. They spear it, and are unable to detach 

 the harpoon-line. They land and see a small canoe. In it is a dwarf, who jumps 

 into the sea and brings up a fish, which he throws into the canoe. Every time he 

 comes up he counts the fish. One of the brothers swims out to the canoe and steals 

 a fish. The dwarf notices that one fish has been stolen, and moves his hand along the 

 horizon. It is arrested in the direction in which the brothers are hidden. He finds 

 them and takes them home. Swarms of large geese appear, which attack the dwarfs 

 with their feathers. When all the dwarfs are killed, the birds leave. The brothers 

 pull the quills out of the bodies of the dwarfs, and they return to life. In return the 

 dwarfs send the brothers home. They are placed on the back of a whale, which carries 

 them away. On his way back the whale transforms the brothers into turtles. 



Coyote meets a man who dives from his canoe and comes up holding in each hand 

 a sturgeon. He puts the sturgeon into the canoe and counts them. When he dives 

 again, Coyote steals one of the sturgeon. When the person comes up again, he misses 

 a fish. He points with his finger, and thus finds the place where Coyote is located. 

 Coyote dodges, but the finger always points at him. Coyote sees that the person has 

 no mouth. Here the story continues differently, and it is told how Coyote cuts a 

 mouth in his face. Then he makes mouths for all the people of the tribe Wish 19. 



ts'ak - (N, p. 117) 



This story is a combination of the story of the boy or bird that 

 killed the grizzly bear and the marriage to the daughter of the Chief 

 in Heaven. The latter part has been discussed in connection with 

 the Asdi-wa'l story (pp. 243 et seq.). 



A boy named Ts'ak' catches fish, which are stolen by Grizzly Bear. The boy scolds 

 the Grizzly Bear, who snuffs him in. Ts'ak' kills the Bear by starting a fire in his 

 stomach. Then he comes out and asks his grandmother to cut the Bear. First she 

 refuses to believe him, but finally accompanies him and finds the UearN 117. 



Other stories of this type have been discussed before (see No. 4, 

 p. 611; pp. 659, 687, 718). 



On the opposite side of the river live the Wolves. Ts'ak- visits them, and they 

 learn that he has killed a bear. They tie him, go to his house, and steal the meat. 

 On being released, he returns, finds his grandmother asleep, cuts some flesh off of her 

 body, roasts it, and gives it to her to eat. Then he taunts her with having eaten her 

 own vulva, and she turns him out of the house N 120 (see No. 18, p. 585). 



i Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America ( London, 1859), pp. 250 it seq. 



